It is all about the words!

Monthly Archives: June 2017

Look at the top-selling books and movies of all time. Harry Potter. Star Wars. The Lord of the Rings. Even stories like Gone with the Wind or Titanic. They all transport people to a different time and/or place, providing an escapist fantasy for the reader or viewer to fall into.

But it only works if the world is immersive and believable enough. In today’s article, Oliver Thiermann from theArcShapeR gives some world-building tips.

It doesn’t matter if you’re writing short fiction, an episode of a web or television series, or the screenplay for a major motion picture, you need to be able to create worlds that your readers/viewers/audience would want to visit or live in.

How is that accomplished? If I knew the exact answer to that question world-building would be easy, which by the way, it is not.

In the meantime, here are 4 methods that will help you shape the environs and settings, that will take your readers to another world:

Start With the Classics

Every author from Tolkien to Isaac Asimov has had influences: ancient Norse and European legends, Greek and Roman poetry, political discourse, and 19th-century philosophy. They, in turn, created works that have influenced generations of writers ever since. If you want to create powerful and immersive settings, start out by reading books that are highly praised for their worldbuilding. Examine their descriptions, their character portrayals, and their world’s internal logic.

Why is it so easy to accept the scientific or magical realities of a particular fictional world? Ask yourself what makes the reality of that place and time plausible instead of logical or rational. Create a strong foundation by leveraging what has already been accomplished, and then learn to stand on the shoulders of giants.

Create a Strong Sense of Place

Your setting should have a unique visual and spatial presentation. Many authors re-imagine favorite locales or places to which they’ve traveled and add fantastic twists to them.

Think of those places in your own life, and let your imagination run riot. If you grew up in a place where old abandoned factories were everywhere, build on those images and memories when describing the ruins of an ancient city, or a desolate alien civilization.

It is important to remember that your truth will become your audience’s truth as they proceed along your narrative’s path. Believe that truth, and make it plausible by rooting it in actual locations you have visited. Focus on the sensory language of that place especially. Strong odors or aromas oftentimes possess the strongest ties to sensory memories, followed closely by sights and sounds.

Take what you remember and exaggerate, expand, and embellish it to give it an air of fantasy or otherworldliness.

No Cliches

If you want your work to be taken seriously, and if you don’t want to take your audience out of the moment, you must avoid cliches at all costs. There is nothing worse than using a worn-out description, or a character archetype that is so overused that it’s fast becoming a faceless blur.

Your world needs depth and variety to make it unique, and cliches are anything but that. Instead, layer your character’s motivations and emotional responses. Let your own voice shine through in your descriptions.

Make sure you know what the common cliches of your genre are, and have a friend or colleague proof your work. Cliches are insidious, and they will bedevil your best efforts to create a truly unique work. Have the guts to cut them out and go your own way.

Make Your Dialogue fit Your World

The denizens of other worlds, and the dwellers in strange or forgotten lands will not speak like 21st century people. Everything from their use of reflexives to how they curse needs to be worked in such a way as to set the existence of those characters apart.

Remember that languages are as tied to place in much the same way that traditions or foods are, so try to find ways to give your characters a way of speaking that suits their surroundings. This means planning ahead as you create.

Do the people in the northern region or continent have a unique speech pattern that is uncommon in other places?

Are there phrases or words in old languages that are applied to everyday speech?

Consider profession, social class, and economic standing when writing plausible dialogue for characters, too. The captain of a space freighter is not going to talk or act like an inner-spiral diplomat with decades of training in poise and speech. By the same token, a barbarian king will not speak or act in the same manner as a merchant baron off a tropical coast.

Plan ahead, and possibly create a rough outline of your world, in order to help you keep everything consistent and unique.

Final Tips

These tips will get you started with world building, but when all is said and done, you just have to sit down and write it into existence. Think about utilizing a physical or a digital notebook. Write down any ideas that will make your characters, and dialogue world specific.

Never throw anything away or erase/scratch anything out. Keep it all.

Lastly, and definitely most importantly, you need to believe in your ideas and in your world. Nothing will make your world real to your audience, like the belief you invest in your creation. Remember that you have more to offer than you think, and every great world began as a crazy fantasy that was shaped into a reality.

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In his post, The Illusion of Patronage, Seth Godin points out that we can no longer depend just on our writing for success. We must engage with our fans, our reading public, through speaking and business ventures.

This is one of those good news, bad news things.

For energetic writers entering the publishing world, eager to rub shoulders with their fans at book events, share relevant images on Instagram, be interviewed on podcasts, write guest blog-posts, create Facebook Live or other videos, and promote their latest book on a t-shirt, this is good news.

For old-school writers still banging out their manuscripts on a Remington Rand, refusing to blog, tweet, link or friend someone, and who think Kindle is what fuels the fireplace, this is bad news.

Long ago Mr. Rogers told us about the part we play in our success in his song “You’ve Got to Do It”

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I feel the chains pull me down as I sink into the dark. Fighting it with fear pulsing through me till despair claims my heart, I can’t get out, I can’t move, I’m trapped in depression. Writers and depression: not a good combination.

Hey everyone. I’m back, and it’s been three more years since my post on self-doubt. Two years, but I’ve been writing so I guess it’s a victory of sorts. However, it has been the hardest thing to keep going.

Through those two years, I’ve found out that I have anxiety and depression, had to move away from home with no resources, and come to terms with the fact that my childhood was filled with passive aggression and emotional abuse. It has been the hardest thing I’ve ever had to face, and I now find it affecting my writing.

Writers and Depression and Anxiety: An Endless Cycle

Some people might shrug that off—anxiety, depression, who cares? Just stop being anxious or depressed. What they don’t realize is it’s not something you can shrug off. Heck, if you could you’d have done that a long time ago. Why make yourself suffer if it was that easy to get rid of? It affects everything, and for me writing was hit the hardest.

Every time I pick up a writing piece or think about what I want to write next, it comes like a thief in the night to stab me with doubt. “What are you doing? Haven’t we already confirmed this? You aren’t a writer. You can’t do it,” it says and laughs at my pain, my anguish, as I clutch my wounds and try to keep walking.

I am wrapped in chains as the depression follows, each thought adding to my already impossible weight. It’s not too long before the wound and weight make me fall, leaving me motionless and alone. I can’t get up, and even if I could the effort is too much.

My anxiety and depression watch me and laugh, dancing around me in glee. Everything within me wants to give up, give in, and vanish, but one spark remains in my heavy heart. I focus on it and somehow keep moving because of the spark that got me into the game, the spark that tells me I can’t give up. And so, I trudge on with great effort, one step at a time.

Anyone who’s been in it knows the cycle. Rinse and Repeat. A endless cycle of paralyzing doubt, fear, and hopelessness. And yet here we stand, still here, hollow survivors.

Some days it’s hard to even get to the writing point, some days it’s hard to wake up, and some days it’s hard to go to bed. I push on. The only way to fight it is to do what it says you can’t—a task so heavy and so great that it is almost bitter sweet.

Sure, you could write something and banish doubt for a time, but it’s bound to return when you look at it again. When you start to see the imperfections. The only way to fight it is to keep going.

Writing Through the Pain

Pain is powerful. It breaks us, tears us down, leaving behind tattered emotions and shredded dreams. It’s hard to face; it’s just easier to let it stay, hidden in your soul. Oft times we smile it away, but deep inside it remains.

That is my everyday now. Most days I can’t write. Most days that fact drags me deeper into depression. And when depression takes a break, anxiety comes right after, using its sharp knives to convince me to cower from the page and not write at all.

When I get like this, the only thing I can do to break the cycle is vomit on the page. I never know what’s going to come out, and starting to write is the hardest part. My pain spews out on the page like blood. I let the words flow; I refuse to look at them.

Sometimes you just have to write.

When doubt is the strongest and fear makes you shake, you write.

It doesn’t have to be published, it doesn’t have to be in a piece you’re working on. The point is to get the doubts on the page, and only then can you start to counter them.

Fear Flees From Action

I can see your eyes rolling. I’m sure you’ve heard this before. I can see your yes buts. It’s okay. Action is hard. A four-letter word that makes you shake and curl up inside. Fear so powerful that it’s a presence on your shoulder—how could it just go away?

I’ve been there. I never believed the stories that it fled from action, at least not consciously. Till the one day it just hurt too much to not write. It had been a rough day, anxiety and depression pulling me to my wit’s end, but I hadn’t said a word. I was trained out of communicating painful things, but this time it was just too much.

I didn’t want to open a blank page; I didn’t want to start writing; fear pulled at me—but my pain spoke louder. I opened the doc and with trembling fingers started writing. It quickly became nearly gibberish as I wrote with tears flowing down my face, but it felt so good. Anger frustration grief all being taken off my shoulders and thrown on the page. Fear completely gone from my mind within the first paragraph.

I’d like to urge you guys to write anyway. It’s going to be hard, it’s going to hurt, and in some cases it’ll make you cry. Write it anyway. You can’t fix a blank page

Writing with depression is so, so hard. Write anyway.

Once you write, reward yourself. Anything from watching a favorite movie, to eating a candy bar, or treating yourself in any other way. This is important. Because if you don’t reward yourself the doubt can just as easily say that what you made was a fraud. By rewarding yourself you acknowledge that you did something good, something worthwhile.

Don’t allow yourself to feel guilty about a job well done. You earned it.

You Can Do It

I’m not going to start this saying it’ll be easy. It won’t be. It might be the hardest thing you ever do, but of course facing fear is always scary. It was hard to let myself accept what my parents were, and harder still to realize I had anxiety and depression. But I’m still here, still fighting the fight. You can too.

You can take control back in your life. No matter how deep you go, you can make it through even if you’re not out yet. You have the power to get up anyway. No matter how many times you’ve done it before, you can do it again and again.

Even if your body gives up on you, even if you’ve had enough, even if it takes all your effort to get out of bed. You can do it. As long as you don’t give up on yourself, nothing can stop you. Even if you don’t believe that and only long to, that is enough. You are enough. All it takes is one step, one choice, one word.

All you need to do is start.

Have you ever experienced anxiety or depression in your writing? How did you overcome it? Let me know in the comments.

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We were all Muggles once. Before Harry, before Hogwarts, before Quidditch and Sorting Hats, our lives were all a little less magical. That changed on June 26, 1997, when J.K. Rowling published her first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (published a year later in the United States as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone).

Two decades into the boy wizard’s reign, Rowling’s books have spawned blockbuster movies, theme parks, stage productions, and a powerful legacy that rivals those of far older classics.

“Will kids (and adults, as well) still be wild about Harry a hundred years from now, or two hundred?” Stephen King wrote in his review of the fifth book in the series. “My best guess is that he will indeed stand time’s test, and wind up on a shelf where only the best are kept; I think Harry will take his place with Alice, Huck, Frodo, and Dorothy, and this is one series not just for the decade, but for the ages.”

To mark the 20th anniversary of Philosopher’s Stone’s publication, we asked our followers on Facebook and Twitter to tell us how the series has impacted their life. Check out some of our favorite stories below and then share yours in the comments!

1. “It brought my mother, myself, and my children closer. Three generations fighting over who would get to read the next book first.” -Nauina

2. “It ignited my love of reading. I essentially grew up with Harry. I will be forever grateful for its influence on my life. Always.” -Andrea

3. “It was the first book I read in English! It taught me the language.” -Lilly4. “When I was in middle school, I was bullied. In my mind, I went to Hogwarts every single day to escape my own torment. Thank you, J.K. Rowling! Thank you Harry, Ron, and Hermione.” -Taryn

5. “I met my best friend through reading Harry Potter, and she’s now my bridesmaid. Our friendship will be 18 years old.” -Erin

6. “I’m an old lady with an old kid and didn’t read my first Harry Potter book until last September. Prior to that I used to wonder what there was in the way of current entertainment that could compare with what I had—shows like Howdy Doody and Westerns. Now I know that with Harry, this generation got something far better. It’s some serious magic.” -Judy

7. “My Dad still calls me Hermoine! It’s nice to share the love of the books with my family.” -Sally

9. “When my oldest was about ten, he asked if there would still be Harry Potter books when he grew up. I said, ‘Of course, books are forever. Why?’ His answer: ‘I just wanted to make sure I can read them to my kids someday.’ -Stephanie

10. “I want to be a writer because of Harry Potter! Because when I read those books, I experienced a feeling of incomparable love and warmth.” -Gashugi

12. “OMG! Where do I begin? A coworker introduced me to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I read the entire book in one day and was hooked from that moment on. I’ve gone to all of the midnight book and movie releases. I reread the series so many times I’ve lost count. No words could adequately explain my love for these books.” -Shanda

13. “It’s been the best friend that’s never abandoned me!” -Phoenix

14. “It gave me a happy and safe space I can always turn to no matter what.” -Jelke

15. “I always pick up Harry Potter books when I need to be reminded that hope perseveres even in the darkest times. Thank you for the magic, J.K. Rowling!” -Desiree

17. “I have dyslexia and ADHD. In middle school, I was reading at a second grade level. I had this friend who was a big reader, and she would tell me about the world inside those books. I was so mesmerized by it. But I got tired of being told about it and wanted to see it for myself. So I went and got Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I read and reread that book so many times until the words started to make sense. I started trying to read everything. In the seventh grade, I went from a second grade reading level to an eighth grade level in one semester. It was all because of my friend…and because of Harry Potter. I’m such a huge reader now. I don’t know who I’d be if I’d never found those books. A me who can’t read—it’s a scary thought. I owe it all to that series. It sounds dumb but it really was like finding a home.” -Rebecca

18. “I found my fandom and my people! And we’re cool now. When I was younger, I would’ve been ridiculed for being so bookish and nerdy.” -Bri

19. “I was 11 when I read them for the first time. It seems so long ago. Those stories kept me afloat when everyone else in my life was trying to drown me. I just wish I could read them for the first time all over again.” -Shivani

20. “Hogwarts is my home, and I’m still waiting for my letter.” -Dounia

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The hard part of writing a book isn’t getting it published. With more opportunities than ever to become an author, the hard part is the actual writing.

In this post, I offer 10 steps for writing a book.

As the bestselling author of five published books, I can tell you without hesitation that the hardest part of this life is sitting down and doing the work. Books don’t just write themselves. You have to invest everything you are into creating an important piece of work, and this requires discipline.

For years, I dreamed of writing. I believed I had important things to say, things the world needed to hear. But as I look back on what it took to actually become an author, I realize how different the process was from my expectations.

To begin with, you don’t just sit down to write a book. That’s not how writing works. You write a sentence, then a paragraph, then maybe if you’re lucky, an entire chapter. Writing happens in fits and starts, in bits and pieces. It’s a process.

The way you get the work done is not complicated. You take one step at a time, then another and another. As I look back on the books I’ve written, I can see how the way these works were made was not as glamorous or as mysterious as I once thought.
How to really write a book (what’s in this article)
In this post, I’ll teach you the fundamental steps you need to write a book. I’ve worked hard to make this easy to digest and super practical, so you can start making progress.

And just a heads up: if you dream of authoring a bestselling book like I have and you’re looking for a structured plan to guide you through the writing process, I have a special opportunity for you at the end of this post where I break the process down.

But first, let’s look at the big picture. What does it take to write a book? It happens in three phases:

You have to start writing. This sounds obvious, but it may be the most overlooked step in the process. You write a book by deciding first what you’re going to write and how you’re going to write it.
Once you start writing, you will face self-doubt and overwhelm and a hundred other adversaries. Planning ahead for those obstacles ensures you won’t quit when they come.
Nobody cares about the book that you almost wrote. We want to read the one you actually finished, which means no matter what, the thing that makes you a writer is your ability not to start a project, but to complete one.

Below are 10 ridiculously tips that fall under each of these three major phases plus an additional 10 bonus tips. I hope they help you tackle and finish the book you dream of writing.

Phase 1: Getting started

1. Decide what the book is about

Good writing is always about something. Write the argument of your book in a sentence, then stretch that out to a paragraph, and then to a one-page outline. After that, write a table of contents to help guide you as you write, then break each chapter into a few sections. Think of your book in terms of beginning, middle, and end. Anything more complicated will get you lost.

2. Set a daily word count goal

John Grisham began his writing career as a lawyer and new dad — in other words, he was really busy. Nonetheless, he got up an hour or two early every morning and wrote a page a day. After a couple of years, he had a novel. A page a day is only about 300 words. You don’t need to write a lot. You just need to write often. Setting a daily goal will give you something to aim for. Make it small and attainable so that you can hit your goal each day and start building momentum.

3. Have a set time to work on your book every day

Consistency makes creativity easier. You need a daily deadline to do your work — that’s how you’ll finish writing a book. Feel free to take a day off, if you want, but schedule that ahead of time. Never let a deadline pass; don’t let yourself off the hook so easily. Setting a daily deadline and regular writing time will ensure that you don’t have to think about when you will write. When it’s time to write, it’s time to write.

4. Write in the same place every time

It doesn’t matter if it’s a desk or a restaurant or the kitchen table. It just needs to be different from where you do other activities. Make your writing location a special space, so that when you enter it, you’re ready to work. It should remind you of your commitment to finish this book. Again, the goal here is to not think and just start writing.

Phase 2: Do the work

5. Set a total word count

Once you’ve started writing, you need a total word count for your book. Think in terms of 10-thousand work increments and break each chapter into roughly equal lengths. Here are some general guiding principles:

6. Give yourself weekly deadlines

You need a weekly goal. Make it a word count to keep things objective. Celebrate the progress you’ve made while still being honest about how much work is left to do. You need to have something to aim for.

7. Get early feedback

Nothing stings worse than writing a book and then having to rewrite it, because you didn’t let anyone look at it. Have a few trusted advisers to help you discern what’s worth writing. These can be friends, editors, family. Just try to find someone who will give you honest feedback early on to make sure you’re headed in the right direction.

Phase 3: Finishing

8. Commit to shipping

No matter what, finish the book. Set a deadline or have one set for you. Then release it to the world. Send it to the publisher, release it on Amazon, do whatever you need to do to get it in front of people. Just don’t put it in your drawer. The worst thing would be for you to quit once this thing is written. That won’t make you do your best work and it won’t allow you to share your ideas with the world.

9. Embrace failure

As you approach the end of this project, know that this will be hard and you will most certainly mess up. Just be okay with failing, and give yourself grace. That’s what will sustain you — the determination to continue, not your elusive standards of perfection.

10. Write another book

Most authors are embarrassed by their first book. I certainly was. But without that first book, you will never learn the lessons you might otherwise miss out on. So, put your work out there, fail early, and try again. This is the only way you get better. You have to practice, which means you have to keep writing.

Every writer started somewhere, and most of them started by squeezing their writing into the cracks of their daily lives. That’s how I began, and it may be where you begin, as well. The ones who make it are the ones who show up day after day. You can do the same.

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Nonfiction writers are obviously inspired by the real world, but fiction writers and poets also take inspiration from real people and events.

Wars, scandals, scientific advances, and famous figures in history have all been represented in every form of writing.

Works of fiction that resonate best with readers contain a kind of truth, a reflection of our own real experiences. That’s why looking to the events of history for story ideas is a great way to inspire a writing session. And of course, poetry takes inspiration from everything in the universe. While personal experiences may be more popular sources of inspiration, some incredible poems and stories have been triggered by real events throughout history.

Today’s writing prompts come from major historical events. These prompts are for writing inspiration only and are not meant to be a comprehensive list of big events from history. They were chosen at random for their potential for igniting creative writing ideas.

You can use these creative writing prompts to write anything you want — a poem, a short story, a blog post, or a journal entry. The idea is to find the prompt that speaks to you and then start writing.

In a country that rants and raves about freedom, the government decides that its people should not be allowed to drink liquor. Write a story set during Prohibition in the United States.

The Great Depression filled the space between America’s Prohibition (which was still in effect during the Depression) and World War II. The Depression affected the entire world. Well-to-do people lost everything and found themselves standing in food lines. Ordinary people went to extraordinary measures to get a meager meal. Meanwhile, someone, somewhere profited.

World War II gave rise to what journalist Tom Brokaw called “the greatest generation.” Create a cast of compelling characters and write a story showing how circumstances forced them to become great.

Spaceships, planes, and men on the moon: We started out traveling around on foot. Then some clever Neanderthal invented the wheel. Now, we soar through the skies and tear through space. Write a story about a long journey set in an era when planes, trains, and automobiles weren’t readily available.

The 1960s gave us Civil Rights, Woodstock, and the space race. What happens when a nation’s people are divided? What happens when minorities of people are oppressed? What happens when ordinary kids decide they don’t want to grow up and become just like their parents? Mix in the fact that there’s a war nobody understands and most people don’t believe in. Add drugs, flowers, and peace signs, and you’ve got the sixties. Write a story set during this iconic decade.

Write a story that is set around the assassination of an important, benevolent, historical figure: for example, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, JFK, or John Lennon.

Revolution could be defined as a war between a state and its people. Revolution often occurs when people are oppressed to the point of mass suffering. Choose one such revolution from history and write a story about the people who launched it.

Throughout history, people have emigrated across land and ocean. Choose a time period of heavy human migration. Then choose a starting place and a destination and write the story of a character or group of characters who take the voyage. Focus on the journey, not the place of origin or the destination.

The 1950s are often painted as a simple and idealistic time in American history. One income could support an entire family. Jobs were plentiful. Moms stayed home with their kids. Divorce was scandalous. Write about a protagonist who didn’t fit the mold, whose life was difficult because of the cultural and societal conventions of the time.

Good luck with these creative writing prompts! Have fun and don’t forget to come back and tell us how they worked for you.

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Greatness doesn’t always beget greatness. Octavia Butler, who was born on this day 70 years ago, credited her remarkable, influential literary career to one sci-fi train wreck.

When she was 12 years old, Butler turned on the television and stumbled across a movie called Devil Girl From Mars. The basic plot was about a man-obsessed Martian and her mission to find humans to mate with. The movie was…not good. Critics called it “delightfuly bad” at best and “undeniably awful” at worst.
Butler could’ve turned the channel. Instead she watched the entire campy thing from start to finish.

“It changed my life,” Butler confessed years later in an essay about why she started writing science fiction “As I was watching this film, I had a series of revelations. The first was that ‘Geez, I can write a better story than that.’ And then I thought, ‘Gee, anybody can write a better story than that.’ And my third thought was the clincher: ‘Somebody got paid for writing that awful story.’ So I was off and writing, and a year later I was busy submitting terrible pieces of fiction to innocent magazines.”

She was being modest, of course. Those “terrible pieces” became the foundation of Wild Seed and the rest of her beloved Patternist series. Butler was the first science fiction writer to receive the presigious MacArthur Fellowship(nicknamed the “Genius Grant”), and her books won multiple Hugo and Nebula awards.

So next time you’re watching an awful movie, think of Butler. She turned one terrible film-watching experience into an award-winning writing career. What could you do?